TIGARD -- Navy Motor Machinist 1st Class Bill Cook, stationed in the South Pacific during World War II, had the landing craft he was working on sink the day before his 21st birthday and wears a bracelet made from the wreckage of a kamikaze bomber.

On Saturday, despite his 88 years, the veteran just needed a little push to spring to his feet for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Cook, who lives in Tigard, was among about a dozen World War II veterans, members of a dwindling group, who came together to share stories and history at the Tigard Historical Association's annual ice cream social at the John Tigard House Museum on Saturday.

"The Navy was pretty good to me," Cook said. "I met a lot of guys and lucked out that I didn't see any of them get killed."

But as the decades stretch since the end of the war, many of Cook's friends and fellow sailors have passed away, making the social a valuable opportunity to meet others who served in the military, many of whom have ties to Tigard.

The Tigard Historical Association focuses on different eras of the city's history at its annual socials. In addition to ice cream, apple pie and fiddlers at the event, association President Mary Feller spent the afternoon capturing videos of veterans sharing their stories.

"Our World War II vets are getting into their 80s and 90s, and we want to get as many of their stories on tape as we can," she said.

One of those taped, Carl Finley, is a 90-year-old Navy veteran who worked on a repair ship during the war. The Tigard man recalled the scene at Buckner Bay on Okinawa was when the war ended.
"You couldn't believe it when the news was announced. Everybody shot their rifles, guns -- anything they could shoot in the air. It was amazing," he said, describing it as being like fireworks.

The tapes, which included stories ranging from battlefield conflict on the South Pacific islands to time spent joking around on leave, will join the association's archives, which include city history dating to when Tigard was just a small farm community.

In addition to capturing the dozen or so veterans' war stories, the association also had a handful of displays depicting what life was like at home during the war, including vintage posters advertising liberty bonds, simple children's toys, quilts and wool weaving.

"The wives and the families are veterans of the war, too," said Martha Worley, the association's vice president. "We wanted to depict life from that era. We didn't have fighting in the streets, but we had grease drives, victory gardens and bonds."

But all the history aside, for the veterans it was an opportunity to befriend others who served in a war that ended more than 65 years ago.

"Some of the memories aren't so nice, but some are pretty good," said 91-year-old Navy corpsman Willard Nelson, who joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and retired in Tigard.